You Are The Only One
by AkumaStrife
Summary: When the worlds fall to darkness, when soul marks start scarring over by the hundreds, Squall Leonhart almost loses his mark too. Then and there he decides to become Leon, who has no soulmate and no weakness. Until nearly a decade later when he meets a young boy with two doomed soul marks, and yet keeps fighting for them anyways. {Cleon Soulmate AU} {Canon Verse}
1. Chapter 1

Leon hasn't thought about it in years—the mark. The name of his supposed soulmate hidden beneath the belt around his wrist. No one talks about them in Traverse Town when scars outnumber tattoos by the dozens. It's almost assumed that if you've ended up in Traverse Town, your soulmate hasn't.

He hasn't thought about his mark in years, until now. Until there's a boy with a key and bright blue eyes, who forces him to think about it with a blunt, "Did yours make it? When your world was destroyed." He's looking for comfort, for assurance in a dark time where everything's been taken from him.

Leon resist the knee-jerk reaction to look at his, to peel back the worn leather and check that's its still there. To read the name he's tried to forget. He just nods, and then at Sora's head tilt, elaborates, "I don't know where they are."

Sora blinks at him, eyes widening as his expression twists, abashed. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have—I didn't… Me either," he settles on, with a great sigh that's too heavy and deep for a boy so young. Leon remembers what that's like.

Sora lifts his arms to show his wrists. On one is a name so faint it's a miracle it has't scarred over; the other is too dark to be normal—the thick lines bleeding into the surrounding skin. Sora scratches at that one absently, the edges faintly red and raw as he picks at it.

Leon wants to smack his hand away, but clenches his fists at his sides instead. "They're still alive," he says. "That's something. They're out there waiting for you to rescue them."

Sora beams at him, looking like he wants to throw himself into a hug.

Even after Sora's gone, Leon's words ring hollow through the dark streets. They haunt him down into the underground waterway where he finally uncoils the belt and lightly touches the name there. It had faded once, just shy of a scar before returning days later. There have been times since then where it's stung as if fading again and again; always accompanied by nausea and headaches so severe he thinks he's dying right along with them.

His soulmate is out there somewhere, too, waiting for him to save them. But he's never known how.

* * *

"Why did you work for him?" Sora asks.

"I'm looking for someone," Cloud admits. Sora glances pointedly down at his hands, and Cloud nods.

"On my island," Sora says thoughtfully, "no on covered the names. Since I left, that's all I've seen."

Cloud gestures at Sora's gloves. "And now you do too."

* * *

"How could I get off this world?" Leon asks.

Cid gives him a sideways look and chews on his toothpick as he thinks. "You'd need a gummy, for starters."

"You build them. And Sora's brought back a lot of spare parts." Leon crosses his arms and leans against a stack of boxes labeled by the kind of gummi pieces they hold.

"It's dangerous traveling the dark corridors without a keyblade, Leon, you know that. I didn't drag your ungrateful asses out of Hollow Bastian only for you to go running back while it's unlocked."

"I'm not going back there."

"It don't matter. Unless it's an emergency I won't allow it." The quiet stretches between them like an expectant hum. Leon meets his narrowing gaze without flinching. " _Is it_ an emergency?"

"Yes. Maybe. I don't know," Leon snaps. He sighs sharply through his noise and runs a hand through his hair. Instead of elaborating he takes off the belt and show Cid his wrist.

"You idiot!" Cid barks, and cuffs him upside the back of his head. "Why didn't y'tell us he was still alive? The way you hid it we all assumed it was a scar!"

"He?"

Cid rubs both hands over his face. "Yeah. He used to live on our world, too, but I didn't get to him in time before it fell. If I'd known he was yours, and that he was still alive…."

Yuffie's rapid footsteps slapping against the cobblestones precedes her. She sprints up the stairs and skids to an abrupt halt between them. "What's going on? I heard yelling."

Aerith follows slower, but notices Leon's barred wrist first. She drags her eyes away from it and up to his face, realization dawning visibly.

"It didn't matter," Leon says. He puts the belt back on, refusing to meet any of their eyes. "I couldn't do anything about it." And maybe it was because sometimes the guilt threatened to suffocate him. Cid and Aerith's names scarred as soon as the darkness spread; Cid's wife taken from him and Aerith's soulmate perishing before she even had the chance to find him. Yuffie had been born blank. And here he was, with a living soulmate he hadn't been able to save. Unable to protect his home. Unable to protect anyone. It didn't seem right.

"We'll go with you," Aerith says. Her eyes are glassy with the start of tears, but she's smiling. She looks more determined that he's seen her in a long time. "Do you have an idea where to start? Or shall we begin in one corner and work our way home?"

"I'm going alone."

"The hell you are," Cid says. "I have to stay for when Sora gets back, but the girls are going with you. Keep you from pulling any suicidal stunts."

Yuffie cheers and jumps around them with both fists in the air. "Road trip! We're gonna find Squall's soulmate!"

"Don't call me that," he says, turning on her sharply. "Especially not around… him."

Aerith looks at him suspiciously, but before she can say anything Yuffie beams and steps too close into his personal space. She asks, "Does that mean we can come?"

"Do I have a choice?"

Cid thumbs his nose and nods. "I'll get on your ship. Shouldn't take a coupl'a days."

* * *

"I heard you were looking for someone."

Cloud turns as Hercules approaches. "Sora," is all he says, and Hercules nods.

"But if you're searching, why are you still here?"

"I need to find my light first." He tightens his grip on his sword. "I don't want him to see me like this."

* * *

Yuffie hops through the gummi ship door and down into the sand. "This is a lot harder than I thought."

Aerith hides a smile behind a hand. "What did you expect?"

"I dunno," she says. She plants her hands on her hips and looks up at the coliseum gates—unimpressed. "Mostly Leon's heart guiding his way straight to his true love and then they collapse in a tearful embrace and we all go home in time for dinner?"

"Don't be stupid," Leon says. Yuffie sticks her tongue out at him; Leon glares right back.

"Would've been a lot easier. Do us all a favor and get in touch with your sappy side," Yuffie says. At Leon's expression she yelps and races off for the lobby.

"Don't stray too far!" Aerith calls after her. She looks to Leon, and when he doesn't move, walks her way around the perimeter, reading the bulletin boards. "There's a tournament going on."

"Don't get distracted," Leon says.

"Oh," Aerith breathes. "Oh, Leon. You might want to see this." She taps her finger against a name in a past tournament. "He was here."

"What?" He doesn't mean to shoulder past her so roughly but something squeezes at his lungs and he moves without thinking. It's surreal to see the name anywhere other than his own skin. Then he scoffs, finding Sora's name above it. "He was beat by a fourteen year old."

Aerith laughs beside him, trying to stifle her giggles, but only laughs louder when Leon turns his look of disdain to her. "So were you," she says.

Leon huffs and turns on his heel, striding towards the lobby.

* * *

Cloud looks at the ticket in his hand, and then at Phil. "What's this?"

"Congrats, Kid, you get to jump ahead to the Hercules Cup. All that Hades business, y'know. Here felt bad."

"Thanks."

"Yeah, yeah, don't get used to it. Come back later."

* * *

Phil sizes Leon up with a bland look. "Yeah, he's here. Off training somewhere else. What of it?"

"Can you tell me _where_ he is?" Leon asks through gritted teeth.

"Since I've never seen _you_ before, that's all I'll say. You wanna see him? Better enter the tournament and pray you survive long enough."

"Fine, whatever," Leon says. He moves for the arena, but Phil pushes him back just as quick.

"Cool your heels there, Achilles. Not how this works. You want to face him? Gotta earn it. Start at the bottom, just like everyone else."

Aerith puts a hand on Leon's arm when he bristles. "That's fine," she says. "Where do we begin?"

Phil smiles at her, smug, and looks imperiously at his clipboard. "Each of you have to survive my training courses, then we'll see where you place."

"This'll be fun!" Yuffie says.

Leon takes one step into the arena before whirling around on Phil. "Barrels and pots? We're not children!"

Phil waves two fingers in his face. "Either follow my rules, or get out."

Leon clenches his jaw as he holds Phil's gaze.

* * *

Cloud cuts through another heartless and surveys the empty room. It's only then that he notices Megara, perched on the stairs up out of the underworld. She claps when he turns to her fully.

"Don't you think you're overdoing it a little, Blondie? Not going to find any light down here."

He shrugs and looks away.

* * *

They enter the Phil Cup as a trio. Leon's insulted how easily they rise through the ranks; each seed hardly more of a challenge than the last.

Leon and Yuffie move onto the Pegasus Cup as a duo.

Aerith sits out with a breezy, "Oh, you don't need a healer for this."

The two of them fly through the tournament just as quickly, but the title match is merely more heartless and by the end Leon is sullen and frustrated.

Phil rolls his eyes. "What did you expect? Hades himself?"

"No," Leon snaps. At Yuffie's defeated look he deflates a little. "Someone else, I guess."

"What are you even gonna do when you meet him?" Yuffie asks. She doesn't say what Leon knows is on the tip of her tongue: _I don't know how these meetings work. I've never seen one. I won't even have one._

It's all new to him too, though. He barely remembers a time before the darkness spread through the universe like a disease. They were too young. "I don't know."

* * *

Cloud's barely through the lobby doors before he stops dead. He tries to say something, but Aerith senses his presence and looks up at him before he can manage anything.

"Cloud!" She gets to her feet and smiles wide. For some reason his name seem to carry weight.

"What are you doing here?" it's the wrong thing to say. It's not even close to anything he was intending. But it's been so long, and he's never been good with people anyways.

"We're looking for—" but then stops. A small frown pulls at her mouth. It looks so out of place that he takes a step forward automatically. She inhales to speak, but then cuts herself off again and just stares at him for a long moment; her eyes searching his face, as if seeing him differently somehow. Finally, she sighs and offers a smaller smile, tight and tired, but still pleased. "Leon's soulmate."

It's been long enough since she started her sentence that it takes Cloud a moment to understand what she means. She must see his uncertainty because she repeats, "We're looking for Leon's soulmate."

Cloud doesn't recognize the name. Distantly in the recesses of his memory there's a vague sense of familiarity, like brushing up against a long lost dream. But he can't grasp it.

She's the one to cross the distance between them, and takes his hands. And then abandons pretenses and pulls him into a hug too tight and too desperate. "But that can wait. I'm so glad you're alive after all. All this time, I…"

"Why wouldn't I be?" He returns the hug because he's never been able to deny her anything. It's good, nice even, to relax for just a moment, to drop his defenses. _It's been so long._

"We thought—" She stiffens. "Thing were chaotic, at the end. That's all. You know how I worry." When she pulls back there's a strange look in her eye, behind the watery smile. A sadness he can't place. "You should meet him."

"Who?"

"Leon."

* * *

Leon scowls at Phil, but makes sure his boots are tightened and secure anyways. "Why are we doing this? I thought you said if we won a tournament, we could move onto the next."

Phil raises an eyebrow and chews on something that doesn't look like food. "This is a coliseum, Achilles, and you're a champion now. You've _responsibilities."_ He spits the word, stretches it out into too many syllables. Leon's expression darkens at the nickname, but keeps silent as Phil continues. "You're the champ, which means anyone else who makes it through the Cup, has to battle you for the title, capisce?"

"We get it, you old goat," Yuffie fires back. She rocks on her heels—impatient. She enjoys the endless rounds in the tournaments, but it's all starting to get to her too.

Phil sputters and chucks half a vase at her before chasing her as she cackles and dances always just out of reach. Another voice joins her laughter and Leon looks over at Sora, not really surprised to see him. The kid's getting good, from what he's heard.

"Leon!" Sora says, grin a mile wide. "I didn't know you'd be here." He looks around the otherwise empty arena. "Am I fighting you?"

"And Yuffie," Leon adds. He whistles a sharp note that carries, and across the arena Yuffie turns on a dime, at his side within moments. "Let's see if you've learned anything new." He treats Sora to a grim smile, and Sora meets it with a cocky one of his own.

Predictably, Sora leaps forward first, impetuous as ever.

The fight ends quicker than he would like, and too soon he's dropping into the sand beside a dazed Yuffie. The keyblade's suddenly at his throat and he jerks back, alarmed but also in awe of how powerful it's become. It sings in Sora's hand, a hum and vibration he can feel; Sora's grin somehow matches. He really is the chosen one after all.

"You've gotten better," he says.

Sora spirits the keyblade away and extends a hand to shake. Leon takes it as he stands, because there are times for pride—too many in his case—but this is not one of them.

He's dusted himself off when Sora asks, "What are you really doing here?" He links his fingers behind his head and peers at him. "You can't be here just for the tournament."

Leon shakes his head. "Decided to follow my own advice." Sora only looks more confused, but Leon doesn't explain. He ruffles Sora's unruly hair, and even though Sora squawks in protest and leans away, there's an eager hunger for affection that has Leon chuckling and doing it again. "Be safe. You've got people counting on you."

"You too," Sora shoots back.

For the first time the thought doesn't make him feel like he's being crushed.

* * *

There have a been a few times where the name on Cloud's wrist has caused his distress, but now it tingles constantly. It's distracting. Makes him nervous and antsy. The ink seems to tug at him; to sit heavy on his skin and drag him down, drag his focus elsewhere. He's not sure where, though, and pushes through the distraction.

He only makes it halfway through the tournament before he's knocked out—flinching when the mark flares in pain and leaving himself open to attack. When he wakes its with a bitten off curse and a half-hearted punch to the column he's propped up against.

He gets up, and starts again.

The mark buzzes against his skin like bees.

* * *

Leon's drinking a potion between seeds when Yuffie jumps to her feet and shouts, "Cloud!"

He chokes.

The man— _Cloud_ —steps up opposite them, but doesn't seem surprised to see her. His expression goes soft and as close to a smile without his lips actually moving; nodding at her in acknowledgement.

Yuffie looks between the two of them quickly, excitement crumpling into doubt. "Leon, look, it's…" but doesn't finish because its unnecessary.

Cloud looks at him then, head tilting slightly as he repeated the name wordlessly—like it should mean something, but doesn't. His eyes are such a bright blue that Leon can imagine how piercing they could be, but instead they're distant and a little empty. Lost.

He should've come looking for Cloud years ago. Before… whatever happened, did. He can't do this. Not now. Not like this. The guilt he's pushed down over the years returns in full force. Cloud's almost died multiple times and each time he thought he was going to die with him. It hurt enough while they were apart. He can't imagine how badly it hurt for Cloud. He can't imagine how bad it'll feel without the distance of strangers.

"I withdraw from the tournament," he says, and turns to leave.

"Leon, wait!" Yuffie calls.

He doesn't know why he stops, but he does. It's not what he was expecting. _Cloud's_ not what he was expecting. He wasn't sure what would happen; fireworks or something world shattering. Anything other than this quiet encounter with a silent man who watches him, only as interested as a stranger can be in a mutual acquaintance.

Leon's been waiting his whole life for this moment—has lived for so long thinking he'd never get it—but now that it's here he has no idea what to do with it.

* * *

"Did you fight them?"

Cloud half turns and there's Aerith. It takes a moment to understand who she's talking about. "No," he says, looking down at the nick he's trying to sharpen out of his blade. "He withdrew."

"Good," she says. Something in her voice makes him think the response isn't for him.

* * *

Yuffie drops down onto the stair beside Leon, leaning back on her hands as she scans the clear blue sky. "So what's next? You gonna tell him?"

Leon shakes his head, frowning. "What would I even say? I couldn't save you, or our home—"

"So in my guilt I pretended you didn't exist, whoops, my bad," Yuffie finishes. At Leon's silence she looks over and flinches away. "Sorry, sorry!" After a beat, adds, "It's true, though. You did."

"I know." He sighs. "I can't leave now, can I?"

"Nope." She pats his shoulder and grins. "But you already knew that. Gotta stay and make sure he doesn't get hurt again, right? You're good at that."

"It's all I _can_ do."

"You could just tell him."

"I can't. Not yet. Not after…" he trails off, and then more firmly, "Not yet. And you won't either."

She raises her hands in a harmless gesture. "You got it."

* * *

Cloud blinks at Leon for a moment before carefully asks, "You… want to team up?"

"For the next tournament. It's supposed to be a bigger deal. Fifty seeds. Thought we'd have a better chance." It sound feeble and uncertain, somehow uncharacteristic even though Cloud shouldn't know that. Leon seems to catch himself and squares his shoulders.

Cloud wants to ask why, but what comes out instead is, "Okay."

Something in him quiets at Leon's palpable relief.

* * *

It's not perfect. Leon tries his best to focus on the fights, but he can't help but be hyper aware of Cloud beside him, he's used to taking point in these types of battles, but Cloud's offensive attack pattern is aggressively overcompensating. It speaks to how long he's been fighting alone.

In one seed Leon trips over Cloud, and the next Cloud nearly runs into him and knocks them both over. Too many times in subsequent battles Leon turns, only to find Cloud a lot closer than expected. He spends more time over-correcting his movements to avoid a collision or fatal misstep. Or just avoiding Cloud's heavy sword in general. It's reach is far longer than his own and he often doesn't give it enough space.

He's clumsy in a way he hasn't been since he was eleven playing with wooden swords. If Cloud's bothered by Leon's presence, he doesn't show it. He blazes on ahead, following his own well-practiced routine.

They do get better. Slowly. A dozen seeds in Leon starts to get a feel for how Cloud fights and where his openings are; learns how to cover them and keep the heartless at bay simultaneously. They begin to move complimentary to each other, quick and easy. There's an ebb and flow, a give and take, in their movements that starts to feel like a conversation without words.

Halfway through the tournament Leon forgets what it felt like to be strangers.

* * *

They're nearly through the tournament when the call comes. Only twenty more rounds and they could take on Hades himself. Cloud thinks they could do it. He really does.

But then Leon gets a call that has him glancing at Cloud out of the corner of his eye with an expression like steels that feels tenuous.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah," Leon says, but it sounds like the opposite. "Sora's on his way to Hollow Bastion. He thinks he can purge the darkness there," he says. And then, in wonderment, "We could go home."

"You should go."

Leon hesitates, watching him oddly, before nodding. "I should head back to Traverse Town. Help him where I can. What will you do?"

"I… don't know." He was supposed to be looking for his light all this time, but he hasn't thought about it in a while. He doesn't know how he could forget something so important. Then again, the way Aerith told it, Leon was supposed to be looking for someone too. "There's someone I need to find, when this is all over."

"Yeah?" Leon says, his tone curious as if wondering who. Except it almost sounds like he already knows.

* * *

Hollow Bastion isn't entirely how Leon remembers it. It's darker, broken and feels heavy and cold. Barren. It's to be expected, but it still makes his chest tight. He'd hoped… well, he'd hoped a lot of things that hadn't come to pass.

He doesn't remember this castle, back when he'd lived here, but that doesn't mean much. It's more intact than the rest of the world. They start with the library while Sora's still clearing out the rest. There's a lot of work to be done and Leon doesn't really know where else to begin.

"I was too young to remember this place," Yuffie tells Sora when he stops in for another break. "But I'm glad to be back! I want to relearn it all over again."

The next time Sora comes through, Leon answers a question with, "I won't use my real name until this place is restored."

Sora's face pinches in confusion. Aerith holds his gaze, mouth pressed tight and unhappy.

"Your real name?" Sora asks. "But if you don't use it, your soulmate won't—oh! Did you find them?"

"Yeah."

Sora links his hands behind his head and smiles. "That's great!" He's visibly holding himself back from asking something else—where they are, probably—and Leon reciprocates the favor by not asking in turn; Sora's gloves are still pulled high.

After Sora leaves, a book flies at Leon the right and he notices too late to duck. It hits him in the jaw hard enough he bites his tongue. He's too stunned to do more than gape at Aerith.

"You can't keep doing this," she says. "This isn't just about you and your… your undue shame! It's about him too and he deserves to know." She takes a breath as if to shout something else, another book tight in her raised fist, but stops. Her hand drops as she watches him. Finally she shelves the book and says, "He deserves better than this."

"I know, but—"

"No," she cuts him off. There's fury in her eyes. "Obviously you don't."

* * *

When it's all over—when Sora beats the darkness back in a way none of them could—Cid shows up at the Coliseum.

"Get'cher ass in the ship," he orders, gruffness betrayed by a wide grin. "We're going home."

The word rings oddly in the air, and a small part of Cloud never thought he'd hear it again. It almost doesn't sound real. He repeats it in his head over and over as he climbs into the Highwind after Cid, sitting where he's told.

His heart thuds against his ribs the whole way, but he's not sure why.

Cid leads him to the castle library where Leon and the girls already are, bickering in good nature as they put it back together. Aerith sees them first and hurries to meet him, ducking to catch his gaze and smiling cheerfully.

He glances past her, his eyes landing on Leon and darting away just as quickly. His heart skips too many beats. He hadn't realized he'd missed Leon's presence at the coliseum until just now.

He doesn't know what it means.


	2. Chapter 2

Leon leans his arms on the window ledge beside Yuffie.

"It's so much bigger than I remember," she says, swinging her feet out over empty air.

He hums in agreement, gaze sweeping the open landscape. It does seem bigger, but that's because only a third of the world is truly left. It'll be a long time before it's back to the way it was. He worries it'll be too long.

"I found him," Aerith calls, her voice airy and bright despite how the tendons in her wrist visibly strain where they haul Cloud behind her.

Leon almost laughs, but bites it back at Cloud's sullen expression.

Aerith's kept him close ever since Sora left the world in their hands. It's for his benefit (Aerith won't let him forget it), but the effort isn't needed. There's something that tugs at him ever since they met, something that feels like its tied on one end to his wrist and the other to his heart. It's maddening.

"So!" Yuffie punctuates the start by turning on the ledge, folding one leg beneath her and leaving the other to dangle. "Where do we start? Do we just… pick up a broom and clean up miles of rubble? Or, like, fix up the town and work our way out?"

"I need to find the original blueprint to the town, first," Leon says. "Cid's working on getting the town's computer up and running. Blueprints should be there, if I can't find the hard copies."

Aerith claps her hands together. "I'll start on the outside of the castle then, take inventory of what's left and what we'll need. Cloud can help you."

"He will?" Leon asks, just as Cloud says, "Why?"

Yuffie jumps off the ledge and pats Cloud's chest. "Two sets of hands are better than one, dummy."

Leon raises an eyebrow at her. "And where are you off to?"

"Merlin!" She spins slowly as she walks away to face them without stopping. "Talking shop about heartless numbers and all that important junk. Don't worry your pretty head about it."

Aerith hurries off in the opposite direction. And then stops at the bottom of the bailey, wagging a finger at them as she calls back, "I better see you both at lunch time!"

"Unbelievable," Leon mutters. He shoots a glance at Cloud, only to find him already looking back. Instead of saying anything he sighs and jerks his head towards the castle. He's halfway down the stairs when Cloud falls into step not quite even with him, his footsteps quieter.

The castle is a mess, but better than outside. Leon ducks under pipes that have come down through the ceiling, brushing aside a tangle of wire and holding them for Cloud without thinking.

"Blueprints should be in one of three places," Leon says aloud, only partly for Cloud's benefit. "Library, Ansem's Lab, or his personal computer."

"Which you have yet to find," Cloud says. He steps gingerly over a pile of caved in wall.

Leon doesn't flinch, exactly, but he's surprised enough that he forgets what he was going to say next. He glances over his shoulder, nodding. "Wasn't sure if you were listening yesterday.

Cloud shrugs one shoulder and looks away, studying the twisting hallways. "Computer's a waste of time right now. Hard copies should still be around. Somewhere."

* * *

"Yuffie never used to pass up a glorified treasure hunt," Cloud says. He thumbs through old letters and books that fall apart even though he tries to handle them as gently as possible. He doesn't look up from Ansem's desk. "Wonder why she didn't tag along."

"I wonder," Leon echoes, with much more feeling than necessary. Of course he's frustrated, but Cloud's not sure of the cause anymore. It seems like everything frustrates him these days.

* * *

"Are these it?" Cloud calls.

Leon leans around the doorframe. "Did you find them?"

Cloud gives him a bland look and waves a questioning hand over a stack of oversized papers. "That's why I'm asking."

They've been at it for hours now and Leon's done with this whole mess. He strides across the room and around the desk, already leaning over them for a better look. He drags his finger along familiar roads and landmarks sketched out in faint blue and red pencil; flips the large pages carefully so as to not tear them. There's more than a dozen at least.

"Are they the right ones?" Cloud asks again, impatiently.

"What? Yeah—" He turns his head and Cloud's already there, much too close. They're nearly nose to nose and Cloud just blinks at him. Cloud's gaze skitters down and bounces back up just as quickly. Leon blinks back. He opens his mouth to say something but nothing comes. Instead he takes a step back and turns his full attention to the plans.

He clears his throat and explains, unnecessarily, "These are the plans for the town, and the underground. Plus the castle and what looks like an integrated defense system." Adds belatedly, "Thanks, for the help," as he stacks them up and rolls them into a tight tube. He's hardly finished before Cloud steps into his space again and takes the papers from him. "Hey—"

"It's not a big deal," Cloud says, too quickly, a little awkwardly as he averts his gaze. He sounds like he's trying to answer two questions at once. "Which way out of here?"

Leon watches him for a moment—fights the urge to rub the mark on his wrist. It thrums against his skin, demanding, but he doesn't. Doesn't look at it. Doesn't uncover it. Just balls his fists at his sides and says, clipped, "This way. Aerith's waiting."

* * *

Cloud means to leave as soon as they bring the blueprints to Merlin's house. But even after he slips Aerith's watch, he still finds himself hovering just outside the borough. Restless. Not exactly waiting, but not sure what he should be seeking otherwise. It's an uncomfortable sort of limbo that sets him on edge. One he's not used to.

The next day he returns to Merlin's house on his own. He tries not to think about it.

* * *

Leon shucks his jacket off and throws it over a bolder, grimacing in the hot sun. He stoops to pick up another chunk of broken stone, heaving it into a pile with the others.

"Can't we trick the heartless into moving all this rubble?" Yuffie whines. She flops bonelessly over a metal pipe bigger than her. "My nimble fingers weren't made for this kind of work."

"We all have to pitch in, or it won't get done," he says back.

"So quit yer bellyachin', girlie," Cid shouts from across the bailey. Yuffie scrunches up her face in a rude expression, and Cid waves a dismissive hand at her, already back to work.

Leon straightens and rotates his arm, loosening a tight muscle in his shoulder as he surveys their work. It's slow progress, and hard to see where they've even made a small dent.

Aerith's further up the path into the restoration site, sweeping debris off their makeshift path; and Cloud farther up still. He's bracing a section of wire grate, but is watching Leon with an unreadable expression.

Leon jumps down onto the path and makes his way over, hands outstretched to help before he's close enough. "Here, let me—"

Cloud shifts and lets him shoulder some of the weight, and they prop it up against the cliff side. "Thanks," Cloud says, "but I didn't need…" He furrows his eyebrows, jaw clenched. Leon follows his gaze to his own arms and is quick to check the belt around his wrist. Then adjusts it anyways.

He looks up to ask what's wrong, but instead pauses as he really looks at Cloud. He blurts, "You have freckles." Then immediately wants to kick himself because that's not what he intended to say, not to mention stupid.

Cloud lifts a hand to his face, confused, and touches the sun-flushed skin over his nose and cheeks. Over the light dusting of faint gold freckles that match his hair. He nods after a moment. "Sometimes." His forehead wrinkles, like he's embarrassed.

"Right," Leon says and turns around to head back to the others. He can feel Cloud's stare on his back and feels oddly vulnerable. He picks his way over the rocky ground and retrieves his jacket. It's too hot, but he pulls it back on anyways.

* * *

The world is too large. Too open. Too empty. It echoes with its own silence at times.

And yet Leon makes it feel uncomfortably close. Like he's being watched.

Cloud's not sure if he likes it. He's been on his own for so long that he's forgotten how to be around people. Leon's worst of all and he doesn't know why. Maybe it's because when they're together it almost feels as if everyone's holding their breath.

Sometimes he feels like he is, too.

* * *

Leon hopes the girls don't think they were being very clever, getting them all out to work on the outside of the castle, only to disappear early on with feeble and vague excuses on when they'd be back. They're not exactly subtle. Even Aerith shows her glee over the whole thing too easily. It's a miracle Cloud hasn't figured out their aim. That would make everything a lot easier.

Or... maybe he already had? Maybe he knew and was choosing to ignore it. He curses under his breath.

"What?" Cloud says dryly, "Can't fix some pipes without the girls' help?"

Leon looks up in surprise, then frowns. But with just the two of them it lacks any real heat. "That's not... no," he says. Cloud's mouth twitches into a small smile, more of a smirk if he's ever seen one, and he narrows his eyes.

Cloud puts down the sledgehammer he's been using to break down rubble and wipes his hands on his pants. He steps up beside him. "Then what do you want me to do?"

A dozen answers flit through Leon's mind and none of them have to do with the wreckage around them. He feels lightheaded. He looks down and clears his throat. "Hold this up. I need to get underneath it."

They work late into the afternoon, until the temperature begins to drop with the dying light. Leon drags an arm around across his forehead and surveys the site. It's getting there. He's pushed through his own doubt for the sake of the town and everyone who's returned, but for the first time he really believes they can fix it all.

"We did good today," he says. He sits on an upturned block and cranes his neck back to look up at the castle. "It'll be better than before. I remember how—" He turns his gaze to Cloud, losing his train of thought. Cloud's looking up at the castle, too, his head tilted back. His face has gone soft. The sunset behind him is red and gold in its final moments. Cloud looks part of it, somehow. "Beautiful," he finishes, quietly. Fumbles to add, "it was. Before."

Cloud looks over at him and, after a moment, smiles. "Yeah."

It might not be so bad, Leon thinks, having a soulmate.

* * *

Cloud looks up when Sora skids to a stop in front of him.

"Where's Leon?"

"I don't know." Sora looks at him so expectantly that he can't help but ask, "Should I know?"

Sora links his hands behind his head and gives him a bemused grin. "I mean, if I knew where my soulmates were after all this time, I don't think I'd ever leave them alone." He laughs.

Cloud feels all the air escape his lungs; feels like the ground has fallen out from under his feet.

* * *

Leon waits for ten minutes more before he gets to work. Cloud didn't say he'd help out today, but he'd shown up every afternoon for the last week and Leon had gotten used to the routine. Routines were dangerous, though.

He starts at one end of Ansem's study and slowly works his way around, cleaning and returning misplaced items to where he assumes they had belonged. He searches furniture and the walls for any kind of secret switch. The castle was full of them and yet they still hadn't found the computer. And he doesn't think about the silence; the absence beside him where he's become comfortable with Cloud being.

He trips over another pile of books and swears, glaring at the mess around the room. He's not getting anywhere. And he probably won't, not today.

* * *

It's overwhelming, to have lived his whole life looking for someone only to find out that you've known them; that they've been hiding in plain sight. To realize that Leon's known all this time and hasn't said anything.

He spends countless days alone, examining this new information from every angle. He can't quite wrap his head around it. Can't imagine what they're supposed to be to each other now. How their tentative friendship is supposed to shift and adapt to this.

Except he can.

And that's the worst part.

* * *

Cloud disappears all the time. In fact, he's gone more often than he's around. Leon's not sure why or where he goes, and only Aerith seems to have any real clue what he's thinking, but it's not a big deal. It really isn't. Sometimes Cloud disappears and usually he comes back relatively quickly.

But Leon works steadily in the castle every afternoon for a week before he sighs harshly and throws down the box of papers in his hands and goes looking for him. He could be dying in a ditch somewhere, for all they know.

Well, could, but isn't. Leon would know if something bad had happened. But the mark has been relatively calm—if a little heavy—and while that should've been reassuring it only makes him more confused on where the hell Cloud is.

He doesn't bother searching any of the usual places; if Cloud was there he would've seen him around. He circles the perimeter of the town, glad for the distraction the heartless provide. They're growing in numbers each day. It's good in its own way. The light is returning to Hollow Bastion.

He does find him, eventually. He wonders if he'll always find Cloud, if their bond sends out faint homing signals, drawing them together if they want it bad enough. He wants.

Cloud sits on the edge of the cliff beyond the Great Maw. He doesn't look surprised to see him. Curious and a little angry, but not surprised.

"Find the computer yet?" he asks.

Leon stands beside him and shakes his head. "There's more junk in the study than I expected." And then pointedly, "It's slow working alone."

Cloud just hums. Leon waits for him to say something, but he doesn't. The silence stretches between them, grows heavy enough that Leon starts to fidget. It almost feels like Cloud is waiting too. "Where've you been?"

Cloud shrugs, raising an eyebrow up at Leon like he's crossing a boundary by even asking.

Leon clenches his jaw against an aggravated sigh. He doesn't know what he's done wrong, but there's obviously something. "Fine, it's none of my business. I came to see if you wanted to spar. The heartless are getting stronger. It'd be smart to be ready."

"No thanks," Cloud says sharply, and looks back out over the canyon. It's a clear dismissal. Leon feels something sharp wedge between his ribs. "It's hard to get stronger when you always hold back. Your heart never seems in it, anyways."

* * *

Before Cloud knew, sometimes it seemed like Leon wanted more from him. The way he looked at him; the way he softened and seemed uncomfortable for it. But unwilling to ask, burdened by an aura of shame that Cloud thought he could understand.

He'd never been sure what that more entailed, but he'd wanted it too. The thought had made his mark warm and that should've been his first clue.

Now he's not sure if he can give Leon more, when he kept something this big from him.

Whatever his reasons.

* * *

Aerith storms out of Merlin's house as soon as she coaxes what happened out of Leon. She flies into the Dark Depths, hands fisted tightly and glaring. She inhales to start yelling—to make it all right because this is getting absolutely ridiculous—when Cloud looks up at her with a tired frown.

"Why didn't he tell me?" he asks. "There were so many times, I just… how did I miss it?"

All the rage leaves her in an instant, her shoulders dropping. Only then does she notice the dark smudges under his eyes. She knows him too well—he must've been thinking himself sick these past days.

"Oh," she breathes, and sits down next to him. She links an arm through his and leans her head against his shoulder. "So you know? Good." A weight's been lifted from her shoulders. She feels as tired as Cloud looks. She hadn't realized how heavy the secret had become.

"Yeah. Sora let it slip."

She nods against him. "I hoped he would." She looks out over the canyon with him; knows this conversation is easier without her eyes on him. She's missed this. This ease together. "You didn't tell him. That you knew."

Cloud lets out a heavy sigh. "No. I wanted to… to see if I could see it."

"Could you?"

"Now that I know what to look for." He shrugs. "Why didn't he… at the coliseum. You said he was searching for… for me. Why didn't he tell me then?"

She doesn't answer right away, not quite sure herself. "I think he felt—" and then stops. She makes a thoughtful sound in the back of her throat, considering her words carefully. "I can't speak for him, because he never told us any more than he had to. He kept it hidden, you know, after the world fell. As if he was in mourning. But once we found out the truth I got the feeling he wasn't mourning you, but himself."

"He blames himself," Cloud says, in surprise, as if he doesn't know where the thought comes from but believes it wholeheartedly anyways. "For everything that happened."

"He always has."

They sit together for a while more. Aerith gets her thoughts in order—knows what she wants to say, but not sure how. Finally, voice low to hide how it cracks, she says, "So do you."

He nods.

* * *

Cloud steers clear of Leon as much as possible. He wouldn't know what to say to him, and Leon would only ask the wrong things. He can't just keep going on as they were before. Whatever it was they were doing before.

He was left in the dark all this time, and that's what stings the most.

* * *

Yuffie stops Leon with both hands on his shoulders and stands on her tiptoes to peer at his face. "You're panicking," she says, eyes widening. "Stoic Leon who shows no weakness is actually panicking."

"Been wearing trenches in the floor, too," Cid calls from across the room.

Yuffie plants her fists on her hips and imitates Aerith's scolding tone. "What are you doing?"

"I don't know! I tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't," Leon answers automatically. Then realizes what he's doing and glares at her. He can hear Cid snorting and muttering something about irony, but ignores him.

"You told him!" She lights up and grabs his hands, jumping up and down.

He yanks away. "No. I just asked where he's been."

"Oh, bummer." Her shoulders drop. She shuffles, looking decidedly guilty, but that could mean anything and he doesn't have the energy to deal with it. "So, uh… he's been avoiding you too, huh?"

"What?"

"Yeah, haven't seen him around lately. Took ages for Aerith to admit she'd talk to him, but wouldn't tell me anything else. She seemed…" she trails off, frowning. "Sad."

If Cloud's avoiding everyone, it's either not a big deal, or a very big deal. He's not sure which one worries him more.

* * *

He doesn't want to go back to being alone. Cloud knows that much. Maybe he can't forgive Leon just yet, for keeping the truth (or maybe he only wants Leon to ask, he isn't sure), but he liked it better with people around to make him forget about the darkness lurking in the hidden corners of his heart.

He needs to find his light. Leon deserves that much. After everything that's happened, Leon deserves a soulmate unburdened by darkness.

* * *

Leon cuts off mid sentence, the blueprints falling out of his suddenly limp hands to the table.

"Leon?" Aerith asks.

The mark on his wrist, quiet ever since they arrived, prickles. It seems to hum and tremble, reverberating up his arm in a way it hasn't since… since he thought his soulmate was dying. A ghost of a warning he's never forgotten.

"Is everything okay?" she asks, putting a hand on his arm.

"I don't know," he says. He strides out the door without saying any more, even though the girls call after him. It'd take too much time explaining. This doesn't involve them anyways.

Panic kicks in when he hits the end of the borough, and he bolts. His heart nearly stops when he skids out of the Crystal Fissure and Cloud's nowhere to be seen. The mark aches and stings; his elbow almost numb with it.

He might already be too late.

Heartless grow out of the ground and shadows around him, but he doesn't stop to fight them. Sora can handle it. The world can survive without him for a little while.

He backtracks as thoroughly as he can bear, all the way back to the market, and nearly trips over Cloud. Cloud sits on the stairs calmly, and Leon searches for a wound, for some sign he isn't okay. It doesn't add up.

Cloud looks up at him, eyebrows raising for a moment before they furrow tightly. "Did Aerith tell you to come find me?" he spits

Leon shakes his head. It takes a moment to catch his breath—to find his voice. Proximity helps the pain in his wrist, but it still pulses insistently. He doesn't know what it's supposed to mean. "Are you okay?" he asks.

Cloud looks him over, face twisting in confusion. "That's what you ran all this way for?"

"No, I—I just had to see… you." He notices the bag at Cloud's feet for the first time. "Is that—are you leaving?" He can't keep the desperation out of his voice, but he doesn't care anymore.

"That was the plan. I have something I need to find."

"You can't leave." It escapes him before he can stop it. It sounds feeble even to him and he winces. "We're—you're—" Leon groans and wants to tug at his hair, but refrains. Barely. He's been trying to figure out how to say this since he left Traverse Town that first time, but nothing's ever felt right. No combination of phrases explains it properly. "My name's Squall," he admits, hating how strained it sounds. It's a terrible way to confess, but it's not like he's been the mode soulmate from the start.

Cloud merely looks at him, the aggravation fading away. Tilts his head a bit as a quiet sigh escapes his lips. He does't say anything for a long time. Then he stands and reaches out slowly to wrap a had around Leon's wrist, lifting it palm up. His fingers tremble slightly as he fiddles the clasp on the belt, unwrapping it with such a look of concentration that Leon can't stop him despite his heart beating so fast it hurts.

There's a distinct tan line bracketing the mark—Cloud's name written out in his own spider handwriting—and Cloud stares at it while Leon stars at him, trying to read any emotion in his expression.

Cloud nods to himself. Leon frowns; it's too decisive, too easy.

"You already knew," he realizes, and it comes out quieter than he intends.

Cloud carefully rubs his thumb over Leon's wrist, tracing the loops of his name and moving onto Leon's veins and the indentation between his tendons. He inhales to reply, but then just nods again. He doesn't let go of Leon, doesn't look up at him just yet. Entrances by his name on Leon's wrist. "Only recently," he admits. "Dunno how I missed it all this time."

It's a nice feeling, not that Leon would admit it aloud. Each gentle pass of Cloud's calloused thumb lessens the urgent sting the mark had been sending up his arm, until it settles into silence. "It's not exactly obvious," he says says. Cloud hums, thoughtful, but elects not to share his thoughts. So Leon swallows his pride and says, "I'm sorry." There's no point not to now. It's out.

"You should've told me. Back when we first met."

"I know. And for… everything else, I guess. I should've tried harder. Before. To find you."

Cloud considers it for a moment, then shrugs, looking away. "I don't think I wanted to be found at first. I was…" but then doesn't finish, frowning in what looks like shame. He takes a step back, Leon's hand dropping from his grasp.

Without thinking Leon reaches after him and clamps a hand around Cloud's wrist. "Don't leave."

"I have to. My light…"

The reluctance in Cloud's tone makes him more relieved that anything. Maybe they can do this, after all. "Not without me." The 'not again' hangs silently between them.

Cloud looks up at him like he hears it anyways. "Okay."

* * *

Once, Megara had said he wouldn't find any light down in the underworld. But he's starting to think, with Leon steadily fighting beside him through Hades' tournaments, maybe she was wrong.

He lost his light here.

Leon found him here.

It's rather fitting, he thinks, that he's finding that light here, too.


End file.
